health

Today I think I should set some things straight when it comes to working out vs. training.

Even though this is pretty well known, there needs to be some clarification.

If you were a guy who needed to lose a few pounds or look better on the beach, going to the gym and “working out” would be enough. No real plan of action, no real set schedule. Go to the gym, lift some weights, walk on a treadmill, burn a bunch of calories, lose weight.

It’s not hard to do. You just need to commit to going a few times a week, watch what you eat, and sweat a little bit. Do that long enough and you will lose weight.

That’s what 99% of the world does when they go to the gym.

If you are a competitive athlete, you need to TRAIN, not “work out.”

When you train you have a specific goal in mind. You have something you are working towards.

When you train, you follow a program. You get a professional to write out a few months of training for you to follow that ensures you are on the right path to getting stronger, more explosive, faster, and more powerful.

That could be a strength coach at your college, a knowledgeable coach at your high school, or a local trainer with a ton of experience working with athletes.

Problem is, what do you do if none of those people are available to you?

Check out the video to learn more:

So there you have it. The athlete who sent in that question needs to get stronger, more explosive, and faster. He needs to do so without putting on a lot of weight. He needs to stay flexible and mobile.

Think you could write him a program to do all that in the next 3 months?

Many people could get him faster. Many people could get him stronger but he might gain a lot of weight back. Many people could do it in 6 months or a year.

You see, proper programming is tough to do. It really takes someone with a lot of experience and knowledge to get an athlete from a specific sport to reach beyond their goals.

That’s why I created the new eBook, The ULTIMATE Off Season Training Program for Throwers.

13 weeks or proven, guaranteed to work training specifically designed for throwers and power athletes. Guaranteed to get you stronger, more explosive, more powerful, and faster without gaining a lot of weight and increasing your flexibility.

Impossible? Nope. I’ve been using this training program for over 2 years with my athletes. Everyone (over 50 athletes) have used this training program and every one has gotten stronger without putting on a ton of bulk or sacrificing their flexibility.

That’s right, you get 2 happys today. It is getting closer to the winter sports season and I am fired up and excited.

One of my athletes went out and threw and had her mom measure the throws. In 2 and a half months she has increased 4 feet 6 inches on her shot and over 11 feet on her discus. Right now I have what might be the top 4 girls throwers in the state training with me.

I am excited. They are excited. They are getting stronger every day and their confidence levels are rising. Shoot, their confidence levels are almost boiling over!!

But that’s 4 really strong high school girls who have been training with me for a while? What about the beginners?

You know, the 12 – 14 year old athletes with no strength training background. What do they do?

Back in the day, phys ed classes were full of push ups, sprints, suicide runs (remember those?) and all types of athletic movements.

Nowadays, not so much. When younger athletes start training with me I start them off with a regimen of bodyweight training.

Not just your average run of the mill bodyweight training either. Check out the video to learn more:

So there you have it. If you have younger athletes interested in getting stronger, in better general physical shape, and ready for next season, bodyweight training is the way to go.

Make sure you hit me up with questions at Matt@PrimalATC.com

If you are not ready for the winter season and need to get your butt in gear and start some serious training,

Man things are getting crazy here. Lots of great things happening with my athletes at Primal and everyone is psyched up for the winter season to start.

One of my athletes yesterday bench pressed 10 pounds less than her max (170 pounds) for 5 reps. That’s insane. That’s an incredible increase in just a few months.

Incredible in any other gym. Funny thing is, every other athlete at Primal is seeing the same results.

This time of year I get a lot of questions from athletes like you who are noticing the winter season is right around the corner and need to get back in shape. Getting in shape for an athlete is a lot different than getting in shape for a regular person looking to drop a few pounds.

The biggest question is also the most vague. “How do I get in shape and what should my workouts look like?”

Here is a good video explaining the type of training you should be doing and the tempo of any strength circuits you attack in the gym.

Sorry for the lack of blog updates lately. Things here at Primal are growing fast and I have been putting a lot of focus into getting the newer athletes caught up and ready for their winter season.

You should be doing the same. If you need help, that’s what I am here for. Please make sure you ask your questions and I will get them answered here on the blog or in the weekly newsletter. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter if you haven’t done so already.

One question I get a lot has to do with what I call the “magic bullet for throwers.” People will e-mail me asking for that one thing to make them a better thrower. What’s that one thing they can do to become a better thrower. What’s one thing they should improve upon in the weight room to become a better thrower.

The answer? There is no one thing. The best thing you can do to improve your technique is to improve everything little by little. Here’s why:

If you take form and technique completely out of the equation, there are certain “ingredients” that make up a great thrower. Certain things like height and arm length, etc can’t be improved. The things that can be changed are strength, power, explosion, vertical leap, conditioning, agility, balance, coordination, footwork, speed (running speed), flexibility, size (weight), and quickness (reaction time).

If you put the majority of your efforts into increasing just one of those things, the others will take a hit and your throw won’t see much improvement. At the same time, if you continue to improve on what you are already really good at, your throw won’t see much improvement.

For example, if you spend three months trying to increase your squat and forget to train your speed, footwork, and balance, your throw won’t see that big of an improvement. Also, if you have really great strength and put all of your focus into further improving your strength, other aspects of your athletic ability will falter because you aren’t actively training them.

This is the best answer I can give. If you ranked all of the “ingredients” I listed above on a scale of 1 – 10 and gave yourself a grade for each, you will have some that are close to 10 and some that are close to 1.

If you want to be a great thrower, you need to get the ingredients that are close to a #1 and try bringing them up. If your vertical leap stinks but you have a 400 pound bench press, focus more energy into box jumps instead of the bench. Adding a few inches to your vertical leap will help your throw a lot more than adding 5 pounds to your bench press.

Hope this makes sense. Improve what you are not good at. It’s really that simple.

If you are in need of improving your strength, explosion, your conditioning, or your grip and need a great program to help you do it, click here

Big thanks for checking out the website today. Today is a very special day for me. Voting has begun to decide who is the top Rising Star in the fitness industry. I was nominated by my friend and mentor Zach Even-Esh. Voting started last night. If you still need to vote, here is the link:

Scroll down until you see my ugly mug and vote for me. From the looks of things, I am the only coach surrounded by a heap of weight loss, bootcamp style trainers. You can vote as many times as you want. Just hit the refresh button and vote again.

So take the day off work, stay home from school, and vote a few thousand times.

(just kidding)

On to the blog post for today. Today is the last day covering the prevention of lower back pain in throwers. This is a subject near and dear to my heart because I suffered with low back pain throughout my entire track and field career.

On day 1, you learned about the causes of back pain. Day 2 covered how to stretch the affected areas. Day 3 you visited with my chiropractor and former javelin thrower, Dan Denette.

Today is all about getting the hamstrings, low back, and hips stronger. In this video I cover 2 exercises that you can do after your warm up but before any heavy lifting or throwing to improve your low back health. Check it out.

There you have it. Improved flexibility and strength in the hamstrings, hips, and low back with just 2 exercises. Try these out today and let me know what you think.

This week I will be releasing a new book designed specifically for throwers. This book is 60 pages of training and conditioning information with a full 13 week training template that you can follow to maximize your strength gains.

It is in the final editing stages.

Just like the last big giveaway, the newsletter recipients will get the first crack at this. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter so you get first dibs on this great off-season training book. The sign-up form is at the top of this webpage.

Happy Monday. I hope you all had a great weekend and are pumped up for another great week of throwing and training.

Football is on TV and that can only mean one thing: Indoor track season is right around the corner.

In just about 3 months, you will be attending your first track meets and competing against other throwers.

If you have been reading this blog, viewing the videos, and practicing all summer, you will have no problem.

If, like 99% of throwers out there, you sat on your butt all summer and did nothing, good luck to you. Hopefully you don’t have to throw against a committed athlete who trained all summer and has the desire to win at all costs.

Today’s blog continues our discussion of lower back pain for throwers. Today I visit my chiropractor for an adjustment and a short interview. WATCH THIS! This is very important and will help your perform at your best and be a healthier athlete.

As you can see, nothing I have written in the past few days has had anything to do with fixing. It is all about PREVENTING. Just like doing preventive maintenance on your car or on your teeth, preventive steps are needed to keep your back healthy and pain free.

I know, I know. Your back doesn’t hurt now so why go through the trouble?

I said the same thing a few years ago right before I got badly hurt. You need to take precautions. Get adjusted. Find a professional to help you get healthy.

If NBA, NFL, MLB, MLS, and other professional athletes use chiropractors to stay healthy, you should too.

If you are in the Boston area, you need to check out Denette Family Chiropractic. Dr. Dan and Dr. Kris are the best.

Check back in tomorrow to learn three of my favorite exercises to strengthen your hamstrings, hips, and lower back.

Alright guys and girls, it’s Friday. Hope you have a great weekend. I have some things for you to try this weekend to help you move better and feel better.

Yesterday you read about lower back pain. It’s something that happens to almost every thrower during their careers.

And yesterday you watched a video explaining why. Flexibility is the key factor to preventing lower back pain and increasing lower back health.

You see, the lower back, hips, and hamstrings are all connected. They all work together as one unit. If one isn’t working correctly or can’t get in the right position, the others will pick up the slack, wear out faster, and get hurt.

That’s just the way it works.

Today’s video is all about getting the hamstrings, hips, and lower back more flexible. Check it out. Use these techniques to get more flexible and healthier.

There you have it. On Monday, I will hit you with Part 3. Part 3 is all about strengthening the hips, hamstrings and lower back to help make you more resilient and further prevent injury. So make sure you check out yesterdays post again and tune back in on Monday.

Have an awesome weekend. Go out and throw and enjoy the great weather. Let me know any questions you have about training or your form and technique and I will get them answered for you here on the blog.

I can think back to my throwing career and to the injuries I had during that time. I am sure if you have ever been injured, you know what it feels like.

Injuries are awful. The pain hurts but not being able to throw or train can sometimes be worse.

One of the most common injuries with throwers (something that still bothers me to this day) is lower back pain. Sometimes it is a mild sprain and sometimes it can turn into a herniated disc or even require surgery.

Surprisingly, the number one reason I see low back pain in the throwers I coach has very little to do with the lower back. Many times, it is inflexible hamstrings and immobile hips that lead to lower back pain.

The reason? The lower back, hips, and hamstrings are all connected and work together. If one part breaks down or is not working correctly, the other parts will take over and wear out faster.

Think of it like a car. If you have a car with a bad gasket it might use too much oil. If you don’t keep adding oil, something vital to the engine might break down. If that breaks down, the whole car is out of commission.

The same is true for your body. If you have weak or inflexible hamstrings, they won’t work correctly. This means your lower back will take over. If you continue to use your lower back too much, you will eventually get hurt.

Check out the video below to learn more about improving your back health.

There you have it. Step one is teaching yourself how to hinge correctly. Tomorrow you will be able to watch step two, getting the hamstrings, hips, and lower back healthier and more flexible. On Monday, I will wrap up with step 3, getting the hamstrings, hips, and lower back stronger.

Keep checking back for more. This weekend I will have an exclusive offer for all of my newsletter recipients. If you haven’t subscribed to the newsletter, make sure you do it now. The form is on the right. Just enter your e-mail and you will get on the list and your two free gifts.